I’d been meaning to check out Shane’s Rib Shack over in Alamance Crossing, but it just kept slipping my mind.

After seeing the new Batman movie over there a few weeks ago I made sure not to forget to go back for some tasty ribs.

Tasty is exactly what I got.

Shane’s Rib Shack isn’t a traditional sit down restaurant and it’s not fast food either. When you walk in you place your order at the counter, you’re given a number and then you have a seat.

The menu is packed with lots of barbecue items including ribs, wings, pulled pork and chicken. They have sandwiches, appetizers and combination meals too. Check out the complete menu here.

The service behind the counter was extremely friendly too and made the experience even more enjoyable. In the seating area they have flat screen TVs with the news and ESPN playing.

We ordered a combo to split for two people. In it we got ribs, chicken tenders covered in spicy barbecue sauce and pulled pork. It also came with two sides, Mac and cheese and greens beans for us, and a piece of Texas toast.

When ordering you can choose from a variety of barbecue sauces. We chose spicy. They also have sauces available in the condiment section incase you want more which I almost always do. I’m a sucker for barbecue sauce.

It only took about 10 minutes or so for our food to arrive and I was pretty hungry. Everything was delicious, especially the green beans. I wasn’t expecting much from the sides, especially something as simple as green beans, but they were great.

My only complaint was that compared to the portions of chicken and barbecue we got, we should have had more ribs. Our entire meal was surely filling enough though.

As we left I saw a waitress delivering a pulled pork sandwich and I decided that I need to go back for lunch because it looked so good.

If you’re looking for a quick bite and some delicious food, I’d head to Shane’s Rib Shack. It’s a great place to go before or after the movies with its convenient location in front of the new theatre.

If you like sitting in the hot sun for 45 minutes during you “20 minute wait for a table,” the place for you is the Olive Garden.

This very popular chain is very busy from it’s 11:00 AM opening until it’s 10:00 PM closing every day. The big draw seems to be unlimited bread sticks–often served hot from the oven–and a bottomless salad bowl for $5.95. The pasta dishes are better than one would expect from a national chain. On a recent visit, the foodie had a nice, spicy linguine alla marinara ($9.75), while the foodie’s partner had spaghetti and meatballs ($11.95). The linguine was cooked a little damp, while the spaghetti was a nice, al dente. Most dinner entrees are in the $11.50 to $16.00 range.

We went to the Olive Garden at 4:45 in the afternoon. We were seated at 5:35. Although we got bread and drinks quickly, the rest of the service was slow. That in a nutshell is the problem with a too popular restaurant.

The round up:

Two rolaids.

Where: 1770 Glidewell Drive, Burlington

Hours: Sunday - Thursday: 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM; Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM until 11:00 PM

Telephone: 584-1171

Kids Menu: Yes. Small pizzas, spaghetti

Web Site: OliveGarden.com

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes. Linguini all Marinara; Eggplant Parmigiana, Capellini Pomodoro

Service: Table

Bar Service: Yes

Take out Service: Yes with Curb Side pick-up.

Health Ratings: 96 (3/28/2008)

Years ago, when the foodie was young, our family lived near a neighborhood restaurant and bar. The Antlers had terrific pizza, heaping plates of spaghetti, and cold beer for the adults. On any given Friday or Saturday night we’d see a good number of our neighbors there. Best of all, it was a place where a working man could afford to take his family out for dinner.

Pulcinella’s on North Main Street in Graham reminds me of The Antlers. Nothing is fancy, but the food is hearty and the prices are right. They serve full dinner menus with everything from antipasti plates to salads, pizza and a host of pasta dishes. The pizzas come in two styles–thin crust like the foodie loved at The Antlers and Sicilian style with a thick crust. Since they are located in Graham, Pulcinella’s is restricted to serving only beer and wine. That said, they have the cheapest wine prices I’ve seen in a restaurant in years. Both reds and whites are either $32.5 or $3.50 per glass, and there is no bottle listed on the menu for more than $18.

At a recent lunch we had the manicotti special–$5.25 made with good ricotta cheese and served with a tasty red sauce. The manicotti wasn’t served mouth-scorching hot, and it wasn’t cold. Just not quite warm enough. A basket of toasted bread was served with the meal. A small dish of oil might have perked that up a bit. As well as seven pasta specials for lunch, they serve Panini subs, pizza, Stromboli and Calzone.

Pulcinella’s has been a favorite in Graham for years and is likely to remain so.

One Rolaids Rating.

The round up:

Where: 302 North Main Street, Graham

Hours: Monday thru Thursday 11:00 AM –9:30 PM  Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM–10:00PM.  Closed Sunday

Kids Menu: Yes

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes , many of the pastas and pizza

Bar Service:  No bar.  Wine and Beer served with meals.

Service: Table

Take out Service: Available for  lunch and dinner menus.

Telephone: 222-8777

Among the presents under the Alamance Foodie’s tree this year was My Life in France by Julia Child and written with Alex Prud’Homme, her grand nephew. This delightful memoir could just as easily have been titled The Joy of Eating in a tip of the hat to Child’s friend Irma Rombauer.

My Life in France delightfully chronicles Child’s years in France with her husband, Paul Child. Not long after their marriage in 1946 they moved to Paris, where Paul worked at the US Embassy with the USIS, a pre-cursor to the US Information Agency. Child’s first meal in France (at La Courrone in Rouen) was a revelation. Julia Child had discovered fine food lovingly prepared. It changed the course of her life. After settling in Paris, she enrolled in the Cordon Bleu cooking school, assembled trunk loads of kitchen equipment and began work on her wonderful cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, co-written with Simone Beck and Laurisette Bertholle. That classic is now in its 39th printing and available in both hardcover and paperback.

My Life in France moves along like a well-paced novel as Child develops recipes, describes delicious dinner parties and struggles with publishers. Some of the food descriptions are so enticing that the Foodie kept his copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking at hand to check exactly how Child suggested one make Sauce Hollandaise or Beurre Blanc.

The Foodie has one caution about this book. If you’re on a New Year’s diet, don’t read it now. Each page will make you hungry.

My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’Homme. Anchor Books, New York 2007

Mimi’s Cafe, the county’s newest restaurant, quietly opened its doors last week. It wasn’t quiet for long as folks have been sampling breakfast, lunch and dinners there every day since. Based in southern California, Mimi’s Cafe is a chain boasting 123 restaurants. Burlington’s is the newest and one of only three in North Carolina.

Feedback from early diners is that they love the decor. The restaurant has a bar area, complete with the requisite flat panel TV, and three distinct dining rooms. One area is modeled after a French bistro. Another is modeled after a wine cellar with a vaulted, brick ceiling. The third room has a New Orleans Garden District theme. French posters and Jazz prints adorn the walls.

With the name and all of the decor, the foodie and friends were sure they’d find Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, Bouilliabase, or mussels steamed in garlic on the menu. Alas, Mimi’s Cafe doesn’t serve French food! Rather the fare is mostly American cuisine with a significant dose of Mexica–carne asada, black bean and chicken chorizo dip, tostada salad–thrown in. There is also a pasta menu with traditional Italian restaurant selections.

There are no French wines on the limited list. The list offers a selection of eight whites and five reds–most from California with two from Australia. Dinner prices range from$13 to $16. Large sandwiches run from $7.39 to $9. A children’s menu is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Vegetarian options include a portobello mushroom, squash, bell pepper, red onion, smoked gouda cheese and sun dried tomato pesto on grilled ciabatta bread; fettucine with Asiago cream sauce; soups; and a Bleu cheese and walnut salad.

Mimi’s Cafe also offered low fat and low carb selections.

Portions are more than ample, and the food is tasty.

The round up:

Where: Alamance Crossing, Burlington

Hours: Daily from 7:00 AM until 11:00 PM.

Kids Menu: Yes

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes with good variety

Service: Table

Take out Service: Available for both breakfast and lunch and dinner menus.

Telephone: 584-6363 FAX: 584-9259

Web Site: Mimi’s Cafe

The Roaster’s Cafe in downtown Burlington has been a popular coffee spot for years. On any given morning, you’re likely to find a LabCorp exec, a local politician, a merchant, or an ink stained wretch chatting, reading morning papers and drinking custom roasted coffee that came to Burlington long before Starbucks.

The good news is that Roaster’s is a great place to have a quiet lunch. Choices include an array of deli sandwiches on white, wheat or a kaiser roll; five different styles of Panini sandwiches grilled on focaccia bread; and a good selection of salads. Recently we opted for a Mandarin grilled chicken salad. The presentation was blah at best. My order was delivered very fast, and I realized why when I found that the chicken had been roasted but not recently.  Several hunks of sliced chicken sat atop a pile of what appeared to be the wrong end of iceberg lettuce. We girded our loins and dug in. What a surprise!

The iceberg lettuce hid spinach leaves and slices of red cabbage. Tasty Mandarin oranges and slivered almonds were mixed liberally into the salad. Served with a creamy poppy seed dressing, the salad had just the right tang to make it appetizing.  $6.00 and worth it…

Deli sandwich prices run from $3.95 for grilled cheese to $5.95 for a club.  Panini’s cost between $5.00 and $6.50.  Salads are $3.25 for a house to $6.25 for a chicken salad plate.  In winter Roaster’s offers soup specials by the cup or bowl.

Wash it all down with a fresh latte.

The round up:

Where: 404 Spring St., Burlington

Hours: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM for lunch. Monday through Friday only

Kids Menu: No

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes. Salads and Soups

Service: Self

Take out Service: Available. 229-6308

No Bar Service

Web Site: no

To serve the many folks who are having holiday lunches, B’s Bistro has closed for lunch to people not at a party. Lunch is being served next door at Benjamin’s, and thankfully, much of the Bistro menu is being served there. The ambiance isn’t the same, but you can still get a half a Croque Monsieur and a cup of soup. The foodie hopes B’s is back for lunch business in January.

In a review of Benjamin’s several weeks back, the foodie grumped that $1.99 a pop was too much to pay for fresh oysters. Diners, or someone at Benjamin’s, must have agreed. Oysters are now on the menu for 99 cents each. There is a Friday and Saturday early evening special of 50 cents apiece.

Bon appetit!

Nine restaurants and ten accommodations in central and eastern
North Carolina have earned AAA’s prestigious Four Diamond rating for 2008.
A total of 15 restaurants and 25 accommodations throughout the entire state
have achieved this rating. The honor will be awarded for the first time to
Heron’s Restaurant in Cary.

The esteemed list includes The Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst, which
has earned 26 consecutive Four Diamond awards.

At first I was taken aback because The Fearrington Country House Inn in Chapel Hill was not on the list. Fear not. There’s a reason. Fearrington has a AAA Five Diamond Award (and a Mobil Travel Guide Five Star Award).

Here are the AAA Four Diamond Award winners for 2008. The number in parentheses is the number of years each has held the award.

Carolina winners and consecutive years won:

Asheville

Accommodations: Richmond Hill Inn (17); The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa (7);
Albemarle Inn (5); Inn on Biltmore Estate (7)

Restaurants: Gabrielle’s at Richmond Hill (16); Horizons (15)

Boone

Accommodations: Lovill House Inn (11)

Restaurants: The Gamekeeper Restaurant and Bar (First-time winner)

Cary

Restaurants: Heron’s (First time winner)

Chapel Hill

Accommodations: The Siena Hotel (12); Carolina Inn (11)

Restaurants: Il Palio Ristorante (18); Carolina Crossroads (6)

Charlotte

Accommodations: Marriott-Charlotte SouthPark (4); Omni Charlotte Hotel (7);
Ballantyne Resort (5); The Westin Charlotte (4); Duke Mansion Historic Inn
(3); Hilton Charlotte Center City (First-time winner)

Restaurants: McNinch House (11); Zebra Restaurant and Fine Catering (5);
Bonterra Dining and Wine Room (4)

Duck

Restaurants: The Left Bank (4)

Durham

Accommodations: Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club (8); Arrowhead Inn Bed and
Breakfast (5)

Restaurants: The Fairview Dining Room (16); Four Square Restaurant (7)

Glenville

Accommodations: Innisfree Victorian Inn & Garden House (14)

Greensboro

Accommodations: Grandover Resort and Conference Center (9); O. Henry Hotel
(9)

Restaurants: Di Valletta (2)

Highlands

Accommodations: Old Edwards Inn and Spa (3); The Lodge at Old Edwards
(First-time winner)

Lake Toxaway

Accommodations: Greystone Inn (22)

Pinehurst

Accommodations: The Carolina Hotel (26); Holly Inn (6)

Restaurants: 1895 Grille (7)

Raleigh

Restaurants: Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern (4)

Wilmington

Accommodations: Graystone Inn (9); The Verandas (6)

The Alamance Foodie’s take. Three that should be on the list and are not: Magnolia Grill in Durham and B. Christopher’s in Burlington and in Chapel Hill.

Bon appetit.

Correct Time Plaza on S. Church Street in Burlington has three better than good lunch and light dinner spots–Mike’s Deli, Vesuvius Pizza and Southbound Sandwich Works. The Foodie’s grandkids love Southbound Sandwich Works–as much for the train decor as for the sandwiches. Train pictures adorn the walls, and framed stock certificates from railroads of the good old days–like Florida Southern, Missouri Pacific, and the Pennsylvania Railroad are framed in the booths.

Diners can order one of fourteen sandwiches or five different salads from the menu, or you can build your own sandwich. There are often two or three soups of the day and a special sandwich of the day. One of my favorite specials is the “Mud Hen” a teriyaki chicken in a pita pocket. Other must tries are the “Sweet Lady,” a concoction of smoked turkey, provolone and apricot preserves and the “Reuben’s Whistle Stop,” which is close to but not quite a real Reuben. The corned beef and kraut are served on toasted sourdough bread rather than on Rye.

There is no table service. Place your order as you enter and wait for your number to come up at the kitchen window. Sandwiches are made to order so service can be slow at times.

Rolaids rating: One

The round up:

Where: 3328 South Church St., Burlington

Hours: 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM

Kids Menu: Yes. $3.89plates with drinks included

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes. Salads and Soups

Service: Self

Take out Service: Available.

No Bar Service

Web Site: www.southboundsandwich.com

The foodie has been traveling recently, but daring diner Jim Harris sent this along as a recommendation.

The pace of our daily lives and the western movement of Burlington can make
us loose sight of our roots and the way things use to be. But there is a
place in east Burlington (remember where that is?) that if you are not
looking you will miss it. Old Fogies has a small store front on East Davis
that if you are looking at what Bell’s has in the window, you will miss this
wonderful “hole in the wall” lunch place. That’s right, they only serve
lunch but it is good down home eating.

Their menu is a two page laminated read that provides a wide selection of
salads, a daily soup, cold and hot sandwiches and a daily lunch plate
special. What makes this menu remarkably different from other local eateries is that no
fried food is offered. Yep, no burgers, fries or onion rings. If you want
a $7.99 burger basket, “go west, young man.”

There is nothing fancy smanchy about this humble place. Its mark is a place
to come to get away from the hustle of the office and maddening shopping
crowd of the west end and enjoy a good simple peaceful lunch. Ah, memories
of yesteryear are still available to be enjoyed. To gain maximum
enjoyment, turn off your cell phone. One last thing, contrary to the name,
your age is not checked at the door. I think it really yields to the notion
of how lunch rooms were sometime ago.

The round up:

Where: 714 E. Davis, Burlington

Hours: Lunch Monday - Friday 11:00 - 2

Kids Menu: Same as adult menu

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes but limited

Service: Table

Take out Service: Available